oo late. In a
moment, and with no signal save the baying of the hound, old Sir Gideon
and his armed company had burst upon young Scott and Old Simon, and ere
the former could cry for assistance, they had surrounded them.

"Willie Scott! ye rash laddie!" cried Sir Gideon--"yield quietly, or
a thief's death shall ye die; and in the very forest through which
ye have this night driven my cattle, the corbies and you shall become
acquaint--or, at least, if ye see not them, they shall see you and feel
you too."

"Brag on, ye auld greybeard," exclaimed the youth; "but while a Scott o'
Harden has a finger to wag, no power on earth shall make his tongue say
'I am conquered!' So come on!--do your best--do your worst--here is the
hand and the sword to meet ye!--and were ye ten to one, ye shall find
that Willie Scott isna the lad to turn his back, though ten full-grown
Murrays stand before his face."

"By my sooth, then, callant," cried the old knight, "and it was small
mercy, after what ye hae done, that I intended to show ye; and after
what ye hae said, it shall be less that I will grant ye. Sae come on
lads, and now to humble the Hardens."

"Arm! every Scott to arms!" again shouted the young laird; "and now,
Sir Gideon, if ye will measure weapons, and leave your _weel-faured_
daughters as a legacy to the world, be it sae. But there are lads among
your clan o' whom they would hae been glad, and who, belike in _pity_,
might hae offered them their hands, but who will this night mak a bride
o' the green sward! Sae come on, Sir Gideon, and on you and yours be the
consequence!"

"Before sunrise," returned Sir Gideon, "and the winsome laird o' Harden
shall boast less vauntingly, and rue that he had broke his jeers upon an
auld man. Touch me, sir, but not my bairns."

The conflict began, and on each side the strife was bloody and
desperate. Bold men grasped each other by the throat, and they held
their swords to each other's breasts, scowling one upon another with
the ferocity of contending tigers, ere each gave the deadly plunge
which was to hurl both into eternity. The report of fire-arms, the
clash of swords, the clang of shields, with the neighing of maddened
horses, the lowing of affrighted cattle, the howl of the sleuth-hounds,
and the angry voices of fierce men, mingled wildly together, and, in
one fearful and discordant echo, rang through the forest. This wild
sound was followed by the low melancholy groans of the dying. B